🧊 January ICE rundown

Note: This story is free for everyone. For access to everything else, become a subscriber.

At least two more people were detained by federal immigration agents in the neighborhood this week.

On Wednesday morning, multiple witnesses reported agents taking an observer from their car near 33rd and Minnehaha after smashing the person's driver's side window. Shortly after, Wildflyer Coffee, located at the intersection, closed for the rest of the day.

Early Friday morning, the day of a massive rally downtown, a person was reportedly detained at a bus stop near 39th and Minnehaha.

There have been more than a dozen credible reports of ICE detentions within the boundaries of this newsletter since the federal "Operation Metro Surge" began in December, though the number is likely higher.

There were indications yesterday that the tide may be turning on the federal operation. Governor Tim Walz and Mayor Jacob Frey each spoke with President Donald Trump, and Frey reported afterward that some federal agents would begin leaving the Twin Cities today. Border Patrol Cmdr. Greg Bovino, who'd been the public face of the federal operation in Minnesota, was relieved of his role in the operation and replaced by border czar Tom Homan.

However, ICE sightings remain common across South Minneapolis this morning, including a reported attempt to enter an apartment on 31st Avenue north of Lake Street.

Hundreds of protesters flocked to the Lake Street bridge Saturday afternoon as word spread of another fatal shooting by federal agents in south Minneapolis, this time of observer Alex Pretti at 26th and Nicollet. Demonstrators remained there well into the evening in subzero temperatures.

As night fell, impromptu candlelight vigils proliferated throughout the neighborhood. Many migrated to their street's intersection with Lake Street, where groups were visible on all four corners of virtually every intersection. Large groups also gathered at each neighborhood park, including the Adams Triangle, as well as the corners of many interior blocks.

At least two neighborhood pastors — Jay Carlson and Ingrid Rasmussen — were among about 100 clergy members arrested during a protest at the airport on Friday.

Carlson, who lives in Hiawatha and co-hosts the Hiawatha Neighbors podcast, spent almost 10 years as the pastor at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church near Lake and Minnehaha, and is currently the pastor at Holy Cross Lutheran near Lake Nokomis. A photo of him kneeling at the protest (sacrificing neither fashion nor function in his fleece-lined headwear) circulated in the local news.

Rasmussen is the current lead pastor at Holy Trinity, where she's worked since 2013. She has been a common media subject since the civil unrest in 2020, when she led the church's central presence in the nearby protests and aftermath. This week, Rasmussen is quoted at length in veteran war reporter Robert F. Worth's longform piece in The Atlantic, Welcome to the American Winter, which details community response to ICE in Minneapolis.

National Public Radio's flagship national show All Things Considered focused on Longfellow in a recent piece, In one south Minneapolis neighborhood, tragedy repeats but connection endures.

The story details recent instances of protest and mutual aid in the neighborhood, and their roots in the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd in 2020. It sets the scene as "a residential neighborhood filled with single family craftsman style bungalows along wide tree-lined streets. A blanket of snow covers the ground, and the sidewalks are all neatly shoveled."

The reporter also visits a neighborhood taqueria that goes unnamed, but will look familiar to anyone who eats along Lake Street.

At a Mexican restaurant in south Minneapolis, a line forms as people wait to order. It feels relatively normal, except for one thing: the front door is locked.

Customers lock and unlock it every time they come and go to keep the federal immigration enforcement agents who have been prevalent in the area from entering.

"It's completely stressful and scary for everybody. It's terrible," says Marco, an immigrant who has been here for more than two decades and the owner of the restaurant.

He asked NPR not to use his full name, or the name of his restaurant, because he fears Immigration and Customs Enforcement might target him.

Said restaurant remains open daily for dine-in or take-out, and recently added a small bar after obtaining a beer and wine license this summer.

Moon Palace Books co-owner Jamie Schwesnedl was a guest on CNN's The Lead with Jake Tapper last week, discussing the store's decision to be closed for Friday's "Day of Truth and Freedom" protest and business blackout.

"Business is down everywhere in the city, especially in our neighborhood where ICE and Customs and Border Patrol have been extremely active," he told Tapper. "People are afraid to go shopping, afraid to go to work, afraid to go outside because of the reckless driving of ICE troops speeding through the city. And additionally, you know, we feel like all of us closing down today, shutting down the city today, it's sending a message to the rest of the country, we hope, and we hope that people hear us, and it's a message saying, we hope you'll join us in resisting this authoritarian and totalitarian regime that's being forced upon us."

The clip isn't publicly available, but you can read a transcript of the interview, which begins at 17:27. Moon Palace remains open seven days a week and is still collecting donations of diapers and menstrual products.

The New York Times, covering the same topic, featured a photo of the boarded-up exterior of the former Elsa's House of Sleep at 36th and Lake. Posters with the phrase "Renee Nicole Good / American Mom / Murdered by ICE" and a photo of Good appeared on the building shortly after her January 7 killing. The plywood boards, which have clad the former mattress and furniture store since 2020, have been a frequent canvas for postering and graffiti. The building has been condemned since June.

More than 200 people attended a neighborhood meeting Monday night co-hosted by the Longfellow Community Council at the Historic Coliseum building. The event featured a know-your-rights training from the ACLU, followed by updates from City Councilmember Aurin Chowdhury and State Senator Zaynab Mohamed. The ACLU has a series of videos that provide similar information.

Many fundraisers and food drives listed in Wednesday's newsletter remain active. Three additions:

• Cloudland says it will donate 100 percent of its share of ticket proceeds for its February shows to the Minnesota Immigrants Rights Action Committee
• A group of neighbors is organizing a "Blind Date with a Book" fundraiser at Mother Earth Gardens on Friday from 11-2
• Toolbox Collective is offering to rent out its space for near-free for Longfellow residents who want to host a neighborly gathering